Blog By Janelle Batista

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My Scripted Life

Now that I am no longer an athlete I feel like I have been going through an identity change. Similar to many other athletes in my position, we’ve grown up correlating our personal worth to how good of an athlete we are. Now that I am done playing volleyball and am graduating in a month, this last semester has been a change for my mind as well as my body.

Growing up from elementary school, middle school, and on to high school I was known for being an athlete. I never felt like I was great at anything else, and at a young age, I found participating in athletics as my niche.

Into high school, I was always asked where and what sport I was going to play in college. I played basketball my whole life and started playing volleyball in high school. My senior year I made the decision that I didn’t want to play basketball in college and chose to take the volleyball route. Looking back, I now see the pressure and the expectations there was for me to play a college sport.

These past few months for me have been a change. I have no team, no coaches, and no trainers. This is a completely different life style for me, as my whole life has been scripted up until this point. I have always had somewhere to be, training to do, or practice to attend.

No longer having those responsibilities is bitter sweet. I miss the team, the locker-room atmosphere and the relationships I’ve built with past teammates, however, my body was physically and mentally drained as well as torn down. I am excited to now be in the driver seat, creating my own future; my own path.

I’m learning how much else there is to life besides sports, and I’m truly starting to figure out who I am and what I want out of life.